KILLED BY JOYFUL NEWS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue XXVI, 25 June 1898, Page 793

KILLED BY JOYFUL NEWS.

One of the most sadly dramatic of all deaths caused by joytul intelligence was that which occurred many years ago in a prison yard. The hour was eight o'clock, and a mournful procession moved out of the prison into the yard, where a scaffold was erected, ou which one of that procession was to die.

Ashen white, the man listened calmly to the soothing words of the chaplain, and when the latter had ended his exhortation, he reiterated his innocence of the crime for which he was to suffer.

Everything was ready for the final act of the grim tragedy when a telegram arrived, addressed to the governor, from the Home Office, ordering the man to be reprieved, as another had confessed to the crime. The governor, delighted with the message, hastened to convey it to the pinioned convict, but even as he did so a convulsive sob shook the poor wretch's frame and he fell down motionless.

The prison doctor bent over him for an instant and then shook his head, mournfully, indicating only too plainly that the unfortunate man had been killed by the very news which should have saved his life.